Author: Editorial Staff

THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $1 million grant to boost local content and development of Small and Medium-Size Enterprise (SME) initiatives in Mozambique. The grant, from the Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund (YEI MDTF), will provide technical and institutional assistance to the Instituto para a Promoção das Pequenas e Médias Empresas, or IPEME,  for the direct support of start-ups and SMEs, with a particular focus on youth-led and women-owned  in business. The Mozambique YWEB Start Up Project with the IPEME will be a multisector local content initiative focusing on tourism, manufacturing, agriculture, ICT, health, and…

CAMEROONIAN post-colonial scholar Achille Mbembe (pictured) raised eyebrows when he accepted an invitation by France’s President Emmanuel Macron to lead preparations for the upcoming 29th Africa-France Summit. The 63-year-old politics and history professor is a vocal critic of postcolonial relations and has previously accused Macron of ‘lacking imagination’ in his political engagement with Africa. Critics have long accused France of maintaining a patronising and detrimental influence over its former African colonies, most of which are in the west of the continent. While several French presidents have in the past declared the end of this relationship, dubbed ‘francafrique’ by academics, they…

FOR the Khoi and San — South Africa’s first inhabitants — a verdant patch of land in Cape Town embodies victory and tragedy. The two communities drove back cattle-raiding Portuguese soldiers there in 1510. But, a century and a half later, this was where Dutch settlers launched a campaign of land dispossession. Today it is again the scene of another conflict, this time over a development where construction is due to begin this month and where there will eventually be a new 70,000-square-metre Africa headquarters for United States retail giant Amazon. ‘This is where land was first stolen,’ said Tauriq…

A GROUP of traditional chiefs in Namibia said Thursday they have accepted an offer of compensation by Germany and a recognition that the colonial-era massacre of tens of thousands of their people in the early 20th century was genocide. Germany pledged last week to give 1.1 billion euros ($1.3bn) over a 30-year period for projects to help communities of people descended from those killed between 1904 and 1908, when Germany ruled the southern African country. Germany asked the victims for forgiveness, in a statement by Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. The chiefs accepted the offer but said it could still be…

WHLE major economies such as the United States and United Kingdom are breaking away from multilateral economic agreements (NAFTA and BREXIT respectively), Africa’s leaders are coming together to fashion and push forward concrete commitments to enhance ease of doing business across the continent, writes Emmanuel Igbinoba. Following a series of negotiations, member states of the African Union signed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) treaty on March 21 2018, with the stated objective of enhancing trans-African trade and deepening economic integration within the continent. With trade commencing as of  January 1 2021, the continental free trade area (CFTA) is…

NIGERIA is modernising its obsolete rail network and the latest line between Lagos and Ibadan, the third largest city after Lagos and Kano, is being upheld as a bright spot on President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term in office, writes Adedayo Ademuwagun. Yet this comes at a heavy price to the state as projects like these rely heavily on external borrowing. Legislative reforms to stimulate private capital and lower political risk would ease the pressure on government debt but the political will to change the status quo looks to be adrift. Main findings – government initiative Transport Minister Chibuike Amaechi has…

THE African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Ghana have launched a $400,000 project to strengthen the development of Ghanaian capital markets. This follows the signing of a grant agreement to develop a risk-based supervisory solution for the local capital market. The grant, from the African Development Bank’s Capital Markets Development Trust Fund, will finance the provision of technical assistance and capacity building for the SEC, the markets regulator, and the Ghana Stock Exchange. The project will enhance the SEC’s institutional capacity and readiness to transition from a compliance-based to a risk-based supervision approach for…

SIERRA Leoneans are protesting a planned industrial harbour in a lush village in the West African country over concerns the Chinese-financed project will destroy pristine rainforest and pollute the ocean. A tourist attraction 35 kilometres (22 miles) south of the capital Freetown, Black Johnson village is nestled between stunning black-and-gold beaches and virgin rainforest home to chimpanzees and protected bird species. A nearby turquoise lagoon overhung with palm trees is also a seasonal breeding ground for fish and turtles. But last month the government announced plans to build a fishing harbour and processing complex in the village, sparking fears that the tropical…

MAURITANIA is set to be home to a 30GW Power-to-X project, which is expected to be the world’s biggest renewable energy project, exporting green hydrogen and its byproducts to global markets, upon completion. This is after the government of the Islamic Republic signed a Memorandum of Understanding with CWP Global, a renewable energy development company and a global pioneer in the development of ultra-large-scale green hydrogen hubs, for the development of the said project in the North of the Northwest African country on a desert site of about 8,500km2. A strategic location for the project According to the European company,…

A FEMALE MP in Tanzania has been kicked out of the country’s parliament for wearing trousers deemed ‘too tight’. Condester Sichwale, a minister for the ruling CCM party, was ejected on Tuesday after male colleague Hussein Amar – a member of the same party – complained. Sichwale was told by the Speaker to ‘go dress up well, and then join us back later’ before she walked out. It is unclear whether she returned to the chamber that day. The reprimand has sparked and angry backlash with a group of female MPs branding it ‘unfair’ and demanding an apology. The incident…